There are many bedding products, including mattresses and pillows designed to increase a user's comfort while lying down to sleep or rest or perform sedentary activities. Some major concerns for people lying down or sleeping are related to breathing, pressure, stress, alignment, and overall comfort. These concerns can be greater for overweight or taller users, athletic users, and pregnant women.
Most pillows are designed to provide support for the user's head and neck while the user lays down on their back or side. Some designs are created to keep the user's spine in alignment while the user sleeps on their side or back. These pillows may be designed with curves upward to provide further support in the area at the base of the skull for the user sleeping on their back or at the neck and jawline of the user sleeping on their side. Some pillows are manufactured out of special materials to provide support or flexibility and to contour to the user's unique shape. However, not all people prefer to lay down or sleep on their back or side, and the above mentioned specially designed pillows are not comfortable for a user who chooses to sleep on their front facing the pillow.
Some people prefer to sleep or rest face-down to increase their comfort and alleviate their concern with breathing, loss of circulation, and pressure. For example, some people sleep face down because they are uncomfortable sleeping on their back due to breathing problems, such as a closing of their airway or sleep apnea. Some people sleep face down because they find that sleeping on their side will cause their arms to fall asleep or their spine to feel misaligned. Many people toss and turn throughout the night trying to get comfortable or reposition their body to relieve some stress on their arms, hips, neck, head, and back.
Sleeping face-down on a standard pillow can cause issues with airflow, breathing, and temperature control. Sleeping facing down can also cause problems with blood circulation in the arms if the arms are pressed under the body. It can also cause breathing problems or issues with air flow or circulation when the user is facing the pillow. Further, issues with temperature control can be caused by breathing into a pillow pressed against the user's face. Some users turn their head sideways when sleeping face-down to increase airflow and temperature control. This can cause a strain on the user's neck, arms, and back if the user turns their head to sleep with their current pillows. Pillows have been designed to help provide a place for an adult's face to lay, or a hole, which allows room for the user to breathe, for example U.S. Design Pat. No. D277,059 (Boone).
Some users take stress off their neck when they sleep on their front by placing their arms or hands under the pillow to prop the pillow up to. This can cause a loss of blood circulation to the arms or hands with their arm placed under the pressure of the body, head, or pillow. One attempt to solve this problem of creating space under a pillow, is U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,906 (Sumpter), which provides tunnel-like openings for the arms of a sleeper. Sumpter provides that the user's arms would be extended above the user's head and parallel to their body underneath the pillow.
The problems described above also occur when the user tries to perform sedentary tasks when resting on their front facing a pillow structure. For example, users seek a comfortable way to perform sedentary tasks, such as reading email or typing on an electronic device, reading books, or performing tasks on their mobile devices, cell phones, or tablets while resting. These tasks can include many different tasks on various devices or objects, such as reading and writing emails and text messages; watching videos, such as sports, movies and television shows; surfing the internet; reading the news and gossip; shopping online; and other tasks requiring limited ability to move. With the proliferation of smaller devices capable of performing these tasks and other tasks, people are more likely to perform these tasks on a smaller device and at various locations. Although these tasks may take place while the user is seated, such as on an airplane, or at a desk, or at a table, these tasks may alternately take place while the user is leaning forward while seated or while the user is lying down. Many people perform these tasks in bed. Some people are not comfortable lying on their back while holding a book or mobile device, cell phone, or tablet above them for an extended period of time. Holding an object above your face for an extended period of time can be uncomfortable. Some people are not comfortable lying on their side for an extended period of time holding a book or device. Lying on one's side limits the ability of one arm or hand to hold the book and turn the page or to touch the device. Further, many new devices contain technology that automatically turns the image on the device based on how the device is oriented, assuming the user is not lying sideways, so that a user reading a website or looking at a picture or video with their head turned sideways must awkwardly turn (or change the settings on their device).
Another problem people have is trying to rest or perform sedentary activities comfortably while seated. This is particularly the case while users are seated on an airplane or at a desk or table. Some pillows have been designed to help support the user's head and neck, but these do not provide the desired amount of support or stability. Some users lean forward and cross their arms and rest their head against their arms, turning their head to the side. This position allows for some level of comfort if the user can comfortably do so while bending at the waist. In many locations, bending at the waist is not a comfortable option, including on an airplane. Also, by turning their head, the user's spine is not aligned. Some users lean their head to the side or try to keep their head back against a headrest, but during their rest their head may lean forward or to a different side if not given the desired support. Leaning the head to the side for too long will also cause pain, stiffness, or soreness for the user's neck. By turning their head, the user's spine is not aligned and the user cannot comfortably rest or sleep. Based on the restricted size of seats, leg space, and lap space for user's sitting on airplanes, users seek a comfortable alternative to the available options. Users are particularly sedentary on airplanes, but the inventive pillow structure would be similarly useful for users seated at a desk or table.
Another problem people have while lying down is comfortably listening to audio through headphones. Some people listen to music, books “on tape,” audio with video, or other sounds such as “white noise” while resting. People place headphones over their ears or place earbuds into their ears while leaning forward in a seated position or while lying down. Many headphones that cover the user's ears or earbuds inserted into the ear are not comfortable when the user's head is against a pillow or against the user's arm or another object. Pressure from an object against the headphones or earbuds, even from a relatively soft object such as a pillow, can cause discomfort to the user.
Designing a comfortable pillow structure that allows the user to rest facing down towards a pillow structure, while the user's arms and/or hands are comfortably placed underneath the user's head at an angle substantially perpendicular to the user's body would be a useful invention as it would allow the user to rest comfortably and position their arms in a manner that allowed flexibility in the user's movements and allow the user to perform sedentary activities. Designing a pillow structure with a cavity in the middle of the pillow structure for the user to place an object such as a book or device, and providing at least one opening for the user's face and at least two openings for the user's arms and/or hands that meet at the cavity would be a useful invention allowing the user to perform sedentary activities while comfortably resting. Designing a pillow structure with space in at least one opening to the cavity for wires, power cords, or headphones or earbuds would be a useful invention. Designing a pillow structure with a source of light for viewing objects placed in the cavity in the middle of the pillow structure the would be a useful invention.